. >> angela sims, who teaches ethics and black church studies in kansas city, missouri spent two years interviewing african-americans who grew up in what theologian james cohen callsed chate the shadow of the lynching tree. they lived in fear of one. or in the case of 92-year-old willie matthew thomas, narrowly escaped being lynched. >> so one of them said, look, we going to hang him or not? and they said, sure we're going to hang him. so he made up the noose, and they put it round my neck. and i -- i remembered in the bible it speak about how they treated jesus, and they said, "they led him away to be crucified." they led me away to be crucified, to be hung. >> thomas was saved when a white man, who knew his family, showed up with a shotgun and intervened. dr. sims got the idea for her project when she heard a speech about lynching by retired minister the reverend wallace hartsfield, sr. now 83, he was only eight or nine living in georgia when he peered from behind a curtain and saw a mob. >> they had taken the man out, and they had used his body for gun practice, and then they had ha